Alien vs Trekkies
by OceanTiger13
Summary: In space, no one can hear you scream... Disclaimer: I own neither Star Trek nor Alien, but I sure had fun writing this.
1. Prologue

**Alien vs Trekkies**

Rated T for blood, guts, violence and swearing aplenty, disturbing situations, and some suggestive elements.

Slash. Don't like, don't read.

This is essentially my excuse to kill/maim/psychologically torture pretty much everybody in Star Trek. : ) Enjoy! Reviews are love!

Prologue

He was screaming at me, screaming at the top of his lungs to kill him, to end him, and his pain. The weapon was shaking in my hand. I didn't know if I could do it. In horror, I watched as a terrible ripping sound reached my ears and the front of his shirt was abruptly splattered with blood. His screams reached top volume. I pulled the trigger. The shot took him in the head, where I had intended it to go, and his cries ceased instantly as the charge's acidic component vaporized him. In seconds, he was reduced to a smoldering pile of ashes. Silence rang.

The floodgates opened.

Images of that horrible day flashed through my mind, swimming through the kitchens, getting trapped behind the airlock, watching the ship start to explode before jumping to warp…

Then his face swam before my eyes, distorted, as if I was seeing him through a bottle of water.

"Jim," he said.

And darkness took me.

***

I sat bolt upright in bed, stifling a shriek.

The nightmares had returned.

Slowly managing to calm myself down, I tucked my knees up to my chest and sat, glancing around the darkness of the shuttle. Nearby, Spock and Uhura were sleeping peacefully together, his arm curled over her waist, protectively, comfortingly.

I blinked, adjusting to the dim light, and walked to the cockpit, taking a seat to check on our course.

I sighed. It would be at least another week before we reached Starfleet. I wondered if, somehow, we could speed up the shuttle's journey.

_Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not an engineer, _Bones might've said.

And then I would've laughed and asked Scotty the same question, and he would've answered something along the lines of: _I canna change th' laws of physics, Captain…more than once a day._

A lump formed in my throat, surprising me. I've never been the crying type.

As to avoid disturbing my crew, I shut the door to the cockpit before breaking down entirely.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Eleven days earlier:

It was early morning. I was comfortable, lying mostly on my side, my arm draped over his waist, our fingertips brushing ever so slightly. I watched him breathing in the dim light of the stars outside. If only that moment could've lasted forever.

Then the alarm went off.

_Bibibibibibibibibib…_

As if jolted out of some horrific nightmare, he shot bolt upright next to me, still half-asleep, I guessed, as he blinked, adjusting to the dim light.

Then, it seemed, he remembered where he was.

"Goddammit, Jim!" he growled, glaring down at me, putting a lot of emphasis on the "dammit".

I sent him an innocent "whatever did I do" look.

He laid back down and faced me, groggy and annoyed.

"Exactly how much liquor did I consume last night?" he demanded.

I grinned. "I don't really remember," I said, "Alarm clock off."

The alarm stopped.

"Figures," he muttered, irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, it was your idea!" I mock-protested. This part I actually did remember, and it was the honest truth. He had a thing for illegal Romulan ale.

"Was it?"

I snorted, reaching up to his shoulder and pulling him forward, pressing my lips against his.

"Whattimeisit?" he mumbled.

"Six thirty," I answered, drawing closer.

"Goddammit, Jim…"

I kissed him again, spooning up to his warm body…

"No. No, Jim, dammit, I have to be on shift in half an hour." He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, sighing. "And so do you."

"Are you always this grumpy after sex?"

He didn't answer, but simply stood and stumbled off to the bathroom.

"I'm borrowing your shower," he called.

"Can I get in there with you?" I asked, just to be harrassive.

"Shut up, Jim."

I rolled over onto my back as I heard the water start up, laughing.

***

At around ten that morning, I made my way to the bridge. I had the nasty feeling that Bones was avoiding me for some reason.

Okay, not for some reason. I knew exactly why he was pissed.

And it wasn't exactly my fault, either. I mean, I was drunk too! He couldn't've been blaming me for the fact that Romulan ale is about three times more potent than whiskey, and we both had copious amounts of it. Contrary to popular belief, I don't look for excuses to jump people. With Bones and me…it just sort of happened.

Stepping into the turbolift, I smiled, recalling when we'd started kissing. (I'm a horny bastard, what can I say?) I wondered how many people had made out in here. I knew Spock and Uhura had. And possibly Chekov and Sulu. Don't ask me how I know about those two—it's an awkward story and you don't want to know.

I knew full well about everyone's social lives on the ship. It was damn hard to keep secrets here. Spock and Uhura. Sulu and Chekov. Bones and me. I'm pretty sure Scotty once had a girlfriend, but then he was also totally in love with the ship herself.

My thoughts were interrupted by the familiar _whirr_ of the doors as they opened onto the bridge.

"Morning," I announced, cheerfully, "Report, Mr. Spock?"

Spock turned around in his seat across the room. "The away party on Likene returned a few minutes ago."

Lucky bastards. I had wanted to go with them, but in my "current situation" as Spock had put it, I was "incapable".

My "current situation" had been my surprise birthday party, which had led to the Romulan ale, which had led to Bones and me being very, very drunk, which had led to, well, you know.

"And?" I asked.

"The planet is almost completely devoid of life."

"And the almost?"

"An underground cavern filled with some creature's eggs."

"Are we able to identify exactly what creature?"

"We know they are reptilian. Nothing else."

Uhura looked up at that moment. "Captain, I have Dr. McCoy for you," she said.

I approached her station. "What's up, Bones?" I asked, attempting to sound friendly.

"Captain, you need to get down here," came the short reply.

_Hah._ Inwardly, I smirked at his irritated tone. He really was pissed.

"Be right there," I replied, trying to hide my grin.

***

A few minutes later, I was entering Sickbay, which was almost completely empty except for Bones and a sedated ensign lying on one of the bio beds.

Quietly, grinning, I crept up behind Bones and threw my arms around his neck.

"Jesus, Jim!" he snarled, jumping, startled.

"Are you still mad at me?" I asked.

"Get off. This is serious."

I got off, peering over his shoulder.

"Whoa. Is that what you called me here for?"

"_No_, I called you down here 'cause I wanted another go with you," he answered, sarcastically, shooting me "The Classic McCoy Glare-o'-Doom".

"Well, in _that_ case…"

"Would you please try to be at least a little bit serious, Jim?"

That tone—the tone of weariness, almost sadness, caught me off-guard. I felt a slight pang of guilt and relented. "Sorry," I said, sheepishly.

Bones rolled his eyes and turned back to his dissection of what looked to be a dinner-plate-sized, beige-yellow, crablike alien with an impressive proboscis trailing out behind it from beneath its body. It took all of my self-control to not start making phallus jokes.

"What exactly is that?" I asked, trying to maintain a professional tone.

"It's dead, Jim, that's what it is." Bones's irritability was back. "It's an alien that attached itself to Ensign Ramirez's face. Came out of one of the eggs down on the surface of the planet."

"…And? What else?"

"I'm trying to find out, if you could stand still for two minutes."

"Ah, Biology. I remember dissecting a squid."

"Dammit, Jim, I will stab you with a scalpel!"

Smirking, I stepped to the side, watching as his scalpel hovered over the creature's corpse. "Will Ensign Ramirez be all right?" I asked.

"I scanned him earlier. He seems fine, but I want to run a few tests to make sure he's clear to go."

Bones made an incision in one of the creature's legs.

Suddenly, with a sharp hiss, a jet of mustard yellow liquid—blood, I presumed—arced through the air. Bones and I jumped out of the way.

I watched the path of the blood to where it splattered on the floor a few feet away. Bones turned back to the creature.

"My god," he said, "That was one helluva lot of blood."

"That's not all."

My sudden change from joking to serious must have thrown him off-guard, because he turned to look at what I saw: The blood was eating through the floor.

We exchanged glances, then simultaneously started for the exit.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"MOVE!" I shouted at a group of startled ensigns blocking the corridor.

They scattered as Bones and I tore past, heading for a turbolift and skidding inside. I hit the down button.

In seconds, the doors opened onto Engineering where we were met by a panicking Scotty, a crowd of frantic personnel rushing this way and that to fix whatever damage the acid had caused, and a lot of steam.

"What the bloody hell are ye two doin' tae my Engineering Deck?!" Scotty screeched, pointing hysterically at the yellow liquid, which was now eating through the floor of this level.

"Jesus, it's still going?!" Bones demanded, horrified.

"It ate through one of th' heating pipes! What _is_ that stuff?!"

"Hope it doesn't reach the hull," I said, darkly, running back to the turbolift.

Bones and Scotty followed.

***

The blood didn't reach the hull, luckily, but it came close. Too close.

From Sickbay, it traveled through Engineering, sleeping quarters, food storage, weapons storage, and one of the cargo bays before stopping. Thankfully, no one was stupid enough to go and touch it, so no one got hurt.

Well, actually, that's a lie—more than one angry engineer went and gave Bones a piece of their mind, not to mention the dozen or so people whose showers turned to ice while they still had shampoo in their hair.

Needless to say, Bones didn't attempt to further dissect the creature.

The following night I was lying in bed, trying to sleep, staring up at the ceiling, pondering it all. Ensign Ramirez had been cleared for duty a day before. Bones wasn't talking to me.

I sighed, wishing…what, exactly? I couldn't fathom what I wanted anymore. I wanted to unravel the mystery around the creature with acid for blood that had attached itself to Ramirez's face. I wanted to be on speaking terms with my CMO, certainly…no…that wasn't true. I wanted to be on speaking terms with Bones…no, that wasn't true either. I wanted to be on more than speaking terms with him. The question was why.

It was a one-night-stand, and we'd both been shitfaced drunk. I shouldn't have been expecting anything more.

But I was.

_I think I've fallen in love_, I thought, incredulously.

A sudden knock came, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Come in," I said.

The door slid open, admitting Scotty, silhouetted against the light from the corridor outside.

"Mr. Scott?" I asked, "What brings you here?"

"Bad news, Captain," he replied, a worried look on his normally smiling face.

"What is it?"

"Ensign Ramirez is missing."

***

I had the full story explained to me as I dressed: Ramirez hadn't shown up for duty that evening. After a call to Sickbay, a trip to his quarters, and a general inquiry about his whereabouts, Scotty had checked his location in the ship's computer.

He hadn't shown up. And there was nothing wrong with the console, the locator system, or anything else in the ship, as far as Scotty could tell.

That was when I'd gotten my house call.

To be honest, I was pissed. And even though it was childish and irresponsible, I was using Ramirez as an excuse to bicker with Bones. Currently, Scotty and I were entering Sickbay.

"McCoy!" I shouted, sharply, spotting him in sitting in his office, bent over a PADD and a cup of (most likely) stale coffee.

He looked up, a familiar grumpy expression on his face. "What?" he demanded.

"You cleared Ramirez for duty." I approached close enough to be able to talk to him without having to yell, but stopped just outside the door.

"That I did, _Captain_," he snapped, butting a great deal of emphasis on my title.

"Well, now he's missing."

Bones stood, staring at me. "Missing," he repeated.

"He's not on th' ship," Scotty interjected.

An icy silence descended upon the room.

Bones fixed me with the glare-o'-doom. "He was fine. Physically and mentally. I wouldn't have cleared him if he wasn't."

"I'm not accusing you of anything, _Doctor_," I growled back, "I was just letting you know."

I stalked away towards the exit, calling over my shoulder: "I'm ordering a shipwide manhunt for that kid. Be ready if we find him, Bones, because you'll be the first one I'll go to if there's something wrong with him." Then I left Sickbay, listening to the doors whirr shut behind me.

A few yards down the hall, I heard them reopen, and then Scotty's voice sounded: "Captain!"

I stopped and turned around, watching as the engineer jogged over to me.

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Shoot," I said, wearily.

"What the bloody hell was tha' all about?!"

"…Nothing," I replied, avoiding his eyes, "Just a personal issue."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Interlude: Engineering: Chekov and Sulu_

"_Pavel, something's up with the Captain and Bones," Sulu announced as he searched behind a large coolant tube._

_Chekov, who was standing nearby, looked up. "Da?" he asked._

_Sulu nodded. "They can't stop bickering. And it's not like it's playful bickering, they really are pissed off at one another."_

"_Hmm. Normally dey get along wery decently."_

"_I know. I just kind of thought…purely speculatively, of course…that the way they were fighting was kind of like us."_

"_Us?"_

"_You know…when we were fighting."_

_The Russian's eyes widened. "You think dat Keptin Kirk and Dr. McCoy are in relationship togezer?"_

_Sulu shrugged. "Just thinking out loud."_

_Chekov considered it. "Hmm."_

_They continued their search, heading deeper into the labyrinth of coolant tubes._

"_Whoo…what ees dat?" Chekov asked, suddenly clapping a hand over his mouth and nose._

"_Smells like something died," Sulu muttered, trying not to breathe through his nose. "Probably one of Scotty's sandwiches."_

"_Gone moldy."_

_They turned a corner._

_Chekov gasped and stopped in his tracks, abruptly looking away. _

_Sulu turned and leaned against one of the coolant tubes, struggling to keep down the bile rising in his throat. He flipped open his communicator, listening to the background noise of Chekov retching._

"_Mr. Scott, this is Sulu…" he managed to choke, trying not to gag. "…We've found him."_

_He glanced briefly back to the place on the floor before them, in a puddle of blood, there lay the mangled remains of Ensign Ramirez._

***

For the third time in less than as many days, I entered Sickbay, finding myself assaulted by the strong scent of antiseptic.

"Over here," came Bones's voice, from behind a curtained-off section of the room.

I walked over and pulled back the curtains to a sight I truly hope I never have to see again.

"Oh, god," I gasped.

Bones handed me a trash can to puke into, and I did so, grateful that I hadn't eaten much for breakfast.

He turned back to what could've been someone's body, although I wasn't altogether sure. It could've just been a bunch of film props and corn syrup thrown together, because there was no possible way that mess could've been a person. My mind was rejecting the idea that someone's body could be so destroyed.

"Ensign Ramirez," Bones announced. "I trust I don't have to tell you that he's dead, Jim."

"How the hell did this happen?" I whispered.

"Well, only one thing's for sure."

I looked at Bones, expectantly.

"No crewmember on this ship could have possibly done this."

"…Then what have we got on our hands, here, Bonesy?"

"I don't know."

Silence fell.

***

Now that I think back on this, I wonder, how could I possibly have been so dense? The creature attached to Ramirez's face should've been a gargantuan, flashing neon sign screaming: "WARNING! ALERT! CLUE!" in my face, and yet I had no idea how to put two and two together.

I set up a shipwide watch for anything out of the ordinary, that was it. I didn't know what else to do.

Something had killed that kid, and chances were it was still on the ship, and I wasn't about to see another body mangled like that.

Even now, Spock and Uhura try to comfort me about this—to tell me that there was nothing else I could have done, and I attempt to humor them, but I suspect they know the truth.

I can never stop feeling guilty about what happened on the Enterprise. I've got about a snowball's chance in hell.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

That evening, late, the ship was silent.

She felt like a damned ghost ship as I walked through her corridors, watching each corner like a paranoid psychiatric patient.

I needed to inform Starfleet.

I _wanted_ to apologize to Bones.

I _should_ have been informing Starfleet.

I _wanted_ to tell him I was sorry.

Involuntarily, my feet carried me in a random direction as I wandered the halls, until I eventually reached Sickbay.

I stopped at the door, staring wistfully. It was dark inside. I sighed. _He's probably asleep, _I thought,_ overworked, as usual._

Quietly, I continued down the hallway.

Suddenly, a nearby closet door slid open, and a hand reached out, grabbing me by the collar and yanking me inside.

I nearly jumped out of my skin and would've been kicking and screaming had the stranger not pressed a finger to my lips. I blinked in the darkness, my eyes adjusting to the dim light coming in from the tiny sliver of window in the now shut door.

"_Bones_?!" I demanded.

"_Shhhh_!" he hissed, urgently.

It was at that moment that I realized just how cramped the closet was, and how close we were.

"Well," I whispered, "This is certainly a change from earlier."

"Dammit, Jim, shut up before you get both of us killed," he snapped, peering out the tiny glass pane.

"Killed?!"

He clapped a hand over my mouth. "Shut up!"

I licked him.

Annoyed and disgusted, he drew his hand back, wiping it on his pants.

"Bones, if you want another go, all you have to do is ask," I said in a husky voice, trying to sound as sexy as possible. I put on a wily grin.

"Shut up, Jim, I'm dead serious."

"You yank me into a closet to make out and yet you're still mad at me? Can you call this the love/hate relationship of the decade?"

"Dammit, Jim!"

"What do you mean by killed?"

"Shut up!"

"Bones—"

I was abruptly cut off as, desperately, he leaned forward and kissed me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I shut my eyes and eagerly kissed him back, curling my fingers in his soft hair. _I'm in love with you, Bones, I really am, I really, really—_

My eyes opened for a half second, and that was the half second that made all the difference.

Something was stalking past the closet where Bones and I were hidden. Something huge, scaly, and reptilian, with a curved head and formidable teeth, and a long, boxy tail.

I drew breath, but didn't speak.

We waited together, silent, until its loud footsteps faded.

Bones whispered in my ear: "Do you see what's going on?" he asked, "Do you see?"

"Yes," I whispered, "I do."

***

Not long after that, the entire ship had been awakened and was on their guard for the creature that now stalked the halls.

Terror kept me awake, and I doubted I was the only one—up on the bridge, Chekov had become increasingly jumpy and Sulu was downing coffee like it was air. Bones, who had been there for about an hour before leaving, had kept nodding off, and then jerking himself back to reality. And a good number of personnel, or so I was informed by a yawning Scotty, were on their toes "like rabbits on meth."

At around 2430 hours, I was pacing.

I was one of four people on the bridge; Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura were with me, Chekov manning the science station, Uhura watching communications, Sulu keeping an eye on anything going on outside the Enterprise, and me looking at a giant, three-dimensional life-signs map of the ship.

"Bones, Spock, report," I said, pressing the communications button on a nearby console.

"Jesus, Jim!" came the angry reply, "You tryin' to scare the shit outta me or somethin'?!"

I almost managed to grin at this—Bones's Southern drawl thickens under pressure. I could hardly understand him the other night when…well…

"Captain, I would advise you to keep radio silence until we find this creature. We will tell you when we sight it," Spock interjected.

I nodded, mainly to reassure myself, and replied, "You two be careful."

"Over and out."

Then there was silence, except for the sound of my footsteps.

"How are you three holding up?" I asked, after a moment.

"F-f-fine, sir," Uhura yawned, "Pardon me."

"De creature we are looking for, Keptin, eet ees the same one dat…_attacked_…Ensign Ramirez?" Chekov queried, nervously.

I hesitated for a moment, remembering that he and Sulu had been the ones to find Ramirez's remains.

"We think so," I answered, carefully, "Dr. McCoy and I."

Both Sulu and Chekov were looking at me then, the fear in their eyes obvious.

"Pavel," I said, looking directly at the kid's frightened face, "You'll be fine."

He nodded, as if he believed me, but his eyes told me the truth. I ignored that, gave him the benefit of the doubt.

I even tried to pass it off as a weak joke: "I won't let the monsters get us," I told him, trying to smile.

Even now, those words echo through my ears, haunting me. Not just because I wasn't able to keep that promise, but also because I didn't believe it myself when I said it.

***

An hour passed, and then another, and another…

Reluctantly, Bones had agreed to swap places with Uhura, who claimed to be "going stark-raving mad" doing absolutely nothing.

At this point, I could tell that Chekov and Sulu knew about me and Bones. It was blatantly obvious through the silence, which was thick enough to cut with a knife.

I had taken to staring blankly at the life-signs map, watching all the little lights moving around the ship like fireflies.

It was 0345 hours when one of the lights disappeared.

I froze in my tracks, staring hard at the life-signs map, pressed a communication button on the nearest console.

"Scotty, is everyone all right down there?" I asked, urgently.

"Got t'check, sir, jes a m-moment," he answered, trying to stifle a yawn. Faintly, I heard him call: "All searching personnel, please check in."

Even fainter, I could hear the replies of the search teams. Then Scotty's voice again: "Yeoman Sala, please come in. Yeoman Sala, check in please."

A few seconds of static.

_Oh, no._ My heart started to pound.

Then came the engineer's voice again, cleaner this time: "We've got one man outta radio contact, Captain."

"He's dead, Scotty. The creature's in weaponry storage, not far off…" I trailed off then, suddenly noticing another dot disappearing. And then another, near it. And another.

None of them were anywhere near the original one, nor were they anywhere near each other, for that matter.

"Captain?"

I kept silent, my eyes widening in horror. I could feel Sulu's, Bones's, and Chekov's gazes boring into me.

"Stay where you are," I said, beginning to tap into the computer's map settings. _Why didn't I think of this before?_ I demanded of myself.

After a tense minute of code-entering and setting-switching, I came to a dialogue box with three options: Recorded crewmembers, body heat, and all life forms. I clicked the last one, waited a moment.

Along with the little yellow dots of light that filled the screen, slightly larger blue ones began to appear. First only a few. Then a dozen. Then twenty. Then fifty. Then a hundred. They kept appearing, all over the place, mainly concentrated in weapons storage, Engineering, and near the kitchens.

"Oh my god," I gasped.

"What is it, Captain?" Scotty seemed to be talking to me from a long, long ways away. His voice sounded faint.

I glanced around at the few crewmembers on the bridge with me: Sulu turned around in his seat, eyes wide, Chekov's wearing an expression of pure horror, Bones's gaze consisting mainly of shock.

Slowly, I spoke into the communicator. "Scotty, get everyone back and head for the shuttles. We need to evacuate the ship_ right_ _now_."

Evacuate. The one thing I had sworn to myself I'd never have to do. This couldn't have been me talking. I didn't _believe_ in no-win scenarios. I just didn't give up like this. What was I doing? Who was I and what had I done with James Tiberius Kirk?

"Wot?! Captain, jes' because of one bloody creature?!"

"There's over a hundred of them."

"There's WHAT?!"

"Get everyone back! Do not take the main halls between sections six and seven; they're swarming with creatures, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir…what?" Then, distantly, "…What's going on? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD—"

"Scotty!" I shouted into the communicator. "SCOTTY!"

Phaser fire. Growling. Screams. Then static.

I sprinted to the center chair and opened a shipwide channel. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge.

"This is the captain speaking," I said, trying to sound calm and controlled, "I am issuing General Order Thirteen due to the current…" I searched for the right word, "…_infestation_ of alien life forms. They are hostile and very dangerous, and there are many of them, somewhere in the range of three hundred. Under no circumstances is anyone to remain on this ship. We are evacuating. Godspeed."

I switched the channel off, turning on the red alert, faced Bones, Chekov, and Sulu, and started handing out orders. "Sulu, Chekov, you two make sure is everyone out of their quarters and knows of the situation, then get yourselves onto a shuttle and get the hell out of here. Bones, get to Sickbay, grab what supplies you can, and get out of here," I told them.

Sulu and Chekov nodded and were off, as I turned and headed for the turbolift.

"Where are you going?!" Bones demanded, following me.

"Engineering."

"Why?!"

"Because there are people down there getting their asses kicked by bloodthirsty monsters!"

"And when will you be making your fabulous escape?!"

"I'll get on a shuttle after everyone's on the ship. I'll leave with the last one, okay? I'll be fine."

He stared at me as the turbolift started to descend.

"You're lying," he said.

_Dammit, Bones, you're a human polygraph._ "What? No, I'm not!" I protested.

"Yes you are, Jim! Dammit, you're going to get yourself killed!"

"I don't have time for your goddamn paranoia! Now you listen to me. You will get your sorry ass onto a shuttle, you will get off this ship, and you will start treating injuries, do you understand?!"

"I'm not leaving without you." Bones reached over and pressed the start/stop button.

The 'lift ceased to move.

I pressed it again, to restart it, glaring at him. He did the same.

"That is an order, Bones," I growled, attempting to pull rank on him.

He shook his head. "I'm not leaving without you."

"There will be people DYING out there; people who'll need medical attention!" I shouted, "Dammit, Bones!"

I pressed the start/stop button again, and thus ensued a childish battle of trying to make the 'lift do what we wanted it to.

That little disagreement had the same kind of effect on the 'lift as does a very violent game of tug-of-war have on a very fragile, very frayed rope.

With a sudden crash and the noise of energy discharging, the 'lift stopped, and Bones and I were plunged into darkness.

"DAMMIT, BONES, YOU BROKE IT!" I screeched.

***


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was beyond pissed when we finally managed to climb out of the turbolift and get off the bridge, not only because we'd lost precious time, but because Bones was following me around like a lost puppy.

Sprinting down the halls and flights of stairs, we also somehow managed to hold a rather effective argument. A recurring pattern made itself known. First, I'd tell him to get his ass over to Sickbay, and then he'd refuse. I'd repeat my order with considerably more volume and irritability, and he'd refuse again, then start ranting about how I was going to "pull some self-sacrificing heroic stunt" and get myself killed. Then I'd tell him to stop being a paranoid bastard and that there were injured crewmembers in need of medical attention. Insults would be exchanged, then a stony silence until I started it all over again.

The pattern repeated itself several times over before we skidded into Engineering.

The image of Ensign Ramirez's shredded corpse flashed through my mind as I took in the scene.

The floor was slick with patches of blood, littered with the dead, the surfaces of everything dotted with phaser marks. Some parts of the coolant tube system and the floor had been eaten away by the congealing, yellow liquid. Coolant had leaked all over the place. Everything was deadly silent, and we didn't see any living crewmembers anywhere.

There were no aliens in sight.

Apprehensive, I stepped over onto the wet floor, taking in the carnage before me. I drew my phaser.

No aliens meant that the aliens were hiding somewhere.

I could feel my heart pounding as if it meant to jump out of my throat. The silence was palatable, like a thick fog, but for the steady drip of coolant and the scared breathing coming from Bones and me.

There came a sudden clatter from nearby, as loud as a gunshot in the silence, making both of us jump.

Exchanging nervous glances, we walked towards the source of the noise, somewhere behind an overturned chair near the wall.

Bones reached it first.

"Christine," he gasped, kneeling.

I followed him, found what he saw.

It was Nurse Chapel.

She was lying in a puddle of her own blood, staring wide-eyed up at us, not speaking, her normally tightly pinned blonde hair askew and matted with blood and coolant.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Bones murmured reaching for her arm to take a pulse.

Chapel's right arm twitched sporadically, then unexpectedly shot forward, grasping Bones's wrist.

She pulled him forward and spoke in a harsh whisper: "Tell…David. Tell…David…" she choked.

"Tell David what?" he asked, quietly, "Who is David?"

"Tell…David…love…him…"

"Who is he?"

"…Tell…David…" Chapel's voice trailed off, her eyes staring blindly off into space. Her grip on Bones's wrist slackened, then her head thudded to the floor.

Bones drew his fingers over her eyes, closing them, closing those brilliantly blue eyes that would never see again.

I put a hand on his shoulder as he stood.

"Captain?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I whirled around to see Scotty standing there, clutching his left arm where he had tied a once-white rag that was slowly turning red.

"Don't do that!" I protested.

"Sorry, sir," he apologized, "Where are Chekov and Sulu?"

"Hopefully off the ship by now," I muttered, casting a dark glance in Bones's direction.

He didn't notice—he was too preoccupied with staring in shock at Chapel's body.

"Not exactly, Keptin," came a third voice.

All three of us jumped as Chekov and Sulu appeared out of the maze of coolant tubes, both of them covered in blood and soot.

"What th' bloody hell happened tae you two?" Scotty demanded.

"Everyone was already running out of their quarters," Sulu began, staring at his feet, "And then we got chased…those things were…really fast. Really fast. Not everybody made it." His voice cracked on the last sentence.

But it wasn't that that scared me, it was the look on Chekov's face. Suddenly, the boy, the youngest one of the officers, the baby of the group, looked older than Admiral Archer himself, a weary, tired flitting about him like a mirage. As if he had had to age magnificently in a short period of time between the discovery of Ensign Ramirez's remains and now.

Chekov was barely nineteen at the time. No one that young should have to go through what transpired that day, but he did, and that's another link in the chains I carry now.

I reached down and picked up Chapel's communicator, flicking it open. "Spock, Uhura, come in," I said.

Nothing. There wasn't even static.

"Spock, Uhura, come in," I repeated, beginning to get worried.

A few tense seconds passed. Then—

"Jim," came Spock's voice.

I sighed with relief. "Where are you two?"

"Section four, Captain," Uhura cut in, "Near the kitchens."

"Captain, according to the life signs map, Officers Scott, McCoy, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, you and I are the only remaining crewmembers on the ship."

"Yep, I can confirm that."

"Keptin, we need to get out of here," Chekov said, quietly.

"I'm inclined to agree," Scotty added, "There's a last shuttle down in th' cargo bays, at th' bottom of the ship."

"Good. Let's go," I said to him, then speaking into the communicator, "Spock, we'll meet you by the kitchens. Stay hidden."

"Understood. Over and out."

Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty started off across the slick floor, but Bones stayed put, still staring at Chapel.

"Leonard," I said, quietly.

He looked over at me, surprised. I hardly ever used his real name.

"We have to go."

Slowly, he nodded.

If I had known what was going to happen, I would have apologized to him, then and there. Hell, I would've gotten down on bended knee and pleaded for forgiveness. I would've kissed him, one last time.

But who can predict the future?


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We almost made it to Spock and Uhura unnoticed, _almost_ being the operative word here.

Rounding one corner on that very tense walk, poor Chekov was the first one of us to stop, petrified.

Almost comically, we ran into one another, first the kid, then Sulu, Scotty, me, and Bones. Very _Three Stooges_.

Well, _Three Stooges_ with alien monsters all over the place.

There was just one of them.

It was hunched over what once was some poor trainee cadet—I recognized the red uniform—feasting on his—or her—innards with a ravenous gluttony one sees in hyenas…

…Except hyenas are scavengers, and this thing wasn't.

Silently, we began to back away. We might have escaped, if only that vent hadn't collapsed behind us, shooting out a gust of musty air towards the creature, taking our scent with it.

The alien stiffened, its curved head rising from its meal, turning ever so slightly toward us.

I caught sight of something between its teeth, like a pale, round tongue. Then, the thing snaked out, and I realized that it had formidable teeth of its own. A worm. A symbiote.

The alien made a strange sniffing noise, then rose on its hind legs, to a full height of at least over seven feet. It began to growl.

This effectively ended my petrification, and I nudged Sulu in the back and whispered, "Run."

The creature swung its head towards us.

Desperate now, I abandoned stealth. "RUN!" I shouted.

The alien took a step towards us and roared.

We ran.

***

I don't remember the chase. I honestly don't. Which route we took, whether or not I was scared out of my mind, whether or not I got tired…it was a blur, and remains so in my memory.

What I do remember was sprinting into Section Four, just above the kitchens, catching sight of Spock and Uhura, and closing the blast doors just as the alien rounded the perpendicular corner a good twenty feet away.

Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, Bones and I stood there, panting for a few seconds.

WHAM!

Chekov gave a small squeak as a considerable dent appeared in the blast doors behind us.

"Come, we must leave the ship," Spock said, urgently.

"Shuttle…in…cargo bay six…" Scotty gasped, "Have…t'go…through the kitchens. Should…be…a trap door…somewhere…around…here."

"The kitchens are flooded," Uhura interrupted, pointing at a nearby square opening by the wall, where water and coolant from storage had begun to overflow into the room.

"Is there another way?" I asked.

WHAM! Another dent appeared.

Scotty shook his head. "Then we'll have to swim it. Let's go."

***

_Interlude: Bones and Chekov, just above the kitchens._

_Bones watched as Jim waited for everyone to dive into the flooded kitchen, then dove in himself, disappearing into the cool blue of the deep._

_A slight whimper came from behind him._

_Bones turned._

_Chekov stood, staring horrified at the water, eyes as wide as dinner plates._

"_Chekov, we have to go, _now_," Bones said, stressing the "now" as much as possible._

"_I know dat…" the boy whispered, "…I am just…not good with water."_

_WHAM! This time, a crack appeared in the door, running from one dent to the other._

"_It's either a little water or a hideous gruesome death, kid," Bones said, sharply, "Take your pick."_

_And without a backward glance, he ran and disappeared into the flooded kitchen._

_Chekov glanced back at the cracked door, terrified. He took a deep gulp of air, then ran and jumped into the water._

_Seconds later, the alien burst through the blast doors. It was not alone._

***

It was surprisingly cool and calm, down in the flooded room.

Serene. Peaceful. Quiet.

Spock and Uhura were ahead, followed by Sulu and Scotty, and then me. Bones and Chekov were somewhere behind.

I glanced to the left, just as Bones kicked past, doing a graceful underwater breaststroke, his hair flattened against his head.

I pointed behind me, then made a C with one of my hands. _Chekov?_

Bones pointed towards the entrance. _Back a ways, about to come through the trap door._ He continued swimming past me.

I heard a splash, then glanced back.

The kid was in the water, doing an awkward but effective combination of freestyle and breaststroke.

Relieved, I started swimming again.

***

_Interlude: Spock, Uhura, and Bones._

Damn, that was a long swim, _Bones thought, as he saw the light form above. Being the more experienced swimmer out of everyone there, he quickly pulled past Sulu and Scotty, and was one of the first three to break the surface, gasping like a fish out of water._

_Spock and Uhura were already treading water when he did._

_Shaking the liquid out of his hair, he blinked, twice, then gasped. _Oh, god_, he thought._

_Eggs. Huge, pale, sticky eggs covered every bit of the floor like oval-shaped marbles, at least two feet tall by one foot wide. There must've been hundreds of them._

_Uhura turned in a circle, completely shocked. Suddenly, she felt herself being shoved to the side as someone nearby shouted, "LOOK OUT!"_

_Then she was underwater, her heart pounding hard. Moments later, Bones appeared beneath the surface once more, thrashing wildly, clawing at a pale, crablike spidery creature that had attached itself to his face._

_***_

_Interlude: Chekov_

Dees eesn't so bad_, he thought, kicking his feet out behind him as he made his way over to the stoves and into the next chamber, _Maybe I will have Hikaru teach me how to swim once dees is over. _He smiled at the thought._

_Unexpectedly, he felt a slight twinge in his chest. His eyes widened in fright, the beginnings of panic settling in._

No, no, no, no, no!_ he wanted to scream, _I am almost dere!

_Frantically, he started to kick harder as the twinge turned into an ache, a growing need for air._

_He was close, so close. _Keep going, Pavel, keep going.

***

_Interlude: Spock, Uhura, and Bones_

_Uhura resurfaced, gasping. "What are you doing?!" she demanded of Spock, watching as he set his phaser to stun, "We just swam over twenty-five yards, how can that possibly work?!"_

"_Waterproofing," the Vulcan answered, "It was logical."_

"_And what do you plan on doing?!"_

"_Getting that creature of Doctor McCoy's face."_

_Uhura grabbed Spock's arm. "You'll kill him!"_

"_Would you prefer that he suffocate?"_

_Their eyes met, hers desperate, his betraying nothing._

_Uhura let go, and Spock disappeared below the surface once more, locating Bones, who had sunk a good four or five feet, still thrashing about, though less so than before._

_Diving down, the Vulcan grasped Bones's arm, aimed closely, and fired._

_Bones stopped moving altogether._

_The creature gently floated off his face and sunk to the floor of the kitchen._

_Had anyone been there to see it, they would have noticed a flicker of emotion—fear, perhaps—cross Spock's face. Placing two fingers on the doctor's wrist, he found a steady pulse, and resurfaced to fine Uhura, Sulu, and Scotty using their own phasers to blow the shit out of every egg in sight._

_***_

_Interlude: Chekov_

_Chekov was nearly panicking now, his arms and legs burning with the effort of trying to reach the surface._

_Just around the corner of a large storage unit, he caught sight of a shaft of light, where there floated five pairs of legs, and beneath them, Captain Kirk, waiting for him._

Almost dere…almost…

_Suddenly, the captain's expression changed from relief to terror._

_Frantically, he began to point at something just over Chekov's shoulder._

I don't want to know_, the boy thought, terrified,_ I don't want to know, I don't want to know…

_Kirk drew his phaser._

But we're underwater…

_Evidently, the weapon still worked._

_A red blast of energy flew over Chekov's head, and an angry hiss sounded from behind._

He got eet. Eet will be fine. Eet will be okay.

_His limbs were surely on fire by now, but he would make it. He was almost to the surface, his lungs screaming for air. Almost._

_And then an iron grip closed around his ankle, dragging him down, away from his precious air._

_His scream was lost to the silence of the deep as more phaser blasts flew over his head and his lungs emptied of air and filled with water. In excruciating pain, he was drowning, losing all touch with reality, losing all touch with everything._

_Inside, all he could hear was his own voice, a shriek: "NYET!"_

_Barely, just barely, he thought he heard someone calling his name as he struggled lethargically against the thing pulling him down._

_He heard an angry hiss in his ear, and then felt a dull, heavy blow to the back of his head._

_All pain stopped._

_Chekov felt vaguely like he was flying as a warm, forgiving darkness wrapped around him and he faded into oblivion._

Da_, he thought, disjointedly, _I am coming home_._

_Then there was nothing._

***

The creature's head was turned back towards me now, and I held out my weapon, ready to fire again. It was then that I realized that it had no eyes to speak of. How disconcerting.

It hissed, bubbles escaping from its mouth between its bared fangs.

I swallowed.

With that, using its powerful tail as a rudder, the creature turned and swam away, carrying Chekov into the dark reaches of the flooded room, where we would never see him again.

_I won't let the monsters get us._

My own words echoed around in my head like a twisted, demented mantra that consumed me for what felt like an eternity.

At the end of that eternity, when it was getting hard to breathe, I swam up towards the surface and broke through.

***

I gasped for breath as I surfaced, taking in the sight. Evaluating.

Around the trap door leading to the kitchens below, everywhere on the floor, there lay fragments of eggs and dead crablike creatures, like the ones that had been on Ensign Ramirez's face, all surrounded by a snotlike, whitish goop.

A ladder leading up to a catwalk that would get us out of this hellhole stood before me, and Spock and Scotty were a good three-fourths of the way up, carrying an unconscious Bones with them, Uhura and Sulu following.

I swallowed at the sight of Bones, but kept myself under control.

I started to climb.

Sulu turned then, looking down at me, a scared look on his face.

"Pavel?" he asked.

I blinked. _What?_

"Pavel," Sulu repeated.

And then I realized: Pavel was Chekov's first name.

I opened my mouth to speak, and found that I couldn't.

Sulu's eyes went wide, as if he couldn't believe what he was—well, wasn't—hearing.

"No…" he said, horrified, "…no…Pavel! PAVEL!"

"Sulu, no!" I roared, as he scurried back down the ladder, making for the water.

I caught him by the arm, trying to hold him back.

"HELP!" I shouted up at the others, and Uhura stepped down a few rungs, taking the helmsman's other arm.

"PAVEL!" Sulu screamed, his voice cracking.

"SULU, HE'S DEAD!" I yelled.

"Jim, Mr. Scott and I cannot hold up Dr. McCoy for much longer!" Spock warned, straining against Bones's deadweight. (What can I say? The guy was six three and ripped like hell).

"Aye, Captain, he's slippin'!" Scotty shouted.

"PAVEL!"

"SULU, STOPPIT! HE'S DEAD, DAMMIT! THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO!"

"Pavel!" Sulu shouted again, and this time the name was broken up by his sobs.

Slowly but surely, he stopped struggling and simply leaned against Uhura's and my grips, crying and murmuring the kid's name over and over.

"Captain!" Scotty grunted from above.

"Jim, they're gonna drop him on his head!" Uhura hissed.

"Go," I told her, and she climbed back up the ladder to help.

Sulu was shaking with silent tears now.

"…Sulu…" I began, quietly, "…We have to go."

I couldn't see his face, but he sniffed once, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, then swung back and grabbed one rung of the ladder, beginning to climb.

I glanced down at the water, where bits of goop were now floating like misshapen jellyfish in a poison tide. As I turned to leave, and I might very well have imagined this, I caught a glimpse of red in the waves on the surface.

I swallowed as I ascended the ladder.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We ended up next to a service elevator and took it down to weapons storage.

The ride was excruciatingly slow, because—Scotty suspected—the cables had been frayed at some point, and therein laid the possibility that they might snap and send us plummeting to our untimely deaths.

"But she's a tough one, this lady," he'd reassured us, patting the walls comfortably. I was too tired to care.

Bones had me worried, though.

He was breathing, yes, and he had a pulse, as if he were merely asleep…but he wasn't conscious.

For the entire elevator ride, I sat against the wall, holding him upright, and aside from Sulu's occasional strained breath, all was silent.

No one spoke, but we were all thinking the same thing.

The silence was in honor of Chekov.

***

Finally, when the elevator clanked into place, Bones stirred.

"Wha'happened?" he slurred, groggily.

"You had one of the crab things attached to your face," Uhura told him.

"And you were unconscious," I added.

"Mmm." He sat up, still looking like he was half asleep. He stared around the elevator, frowning. "Where's Chekov?" he asked.

Sulu started crying again.

Bones looked at me, confused. "Jim?"

I shook my head.

He turned his gaze to the floor. "Dammit," was all he said.

***

Once again, we were creeping through the darkened halls of the ship, all quiet and scared, Spock and Uhura leading, Scotty attempting to comfort Sulu, and Bones and me lagging behind, me with one hand resting on my phaser. Bones had this horrible guilty look on his face as he stared at the floor. It scared me, that look. Bones almost never looked guilty about anything.

"He was scared to swim through the kitchens," he said, quietly, as our footsteps echoed softly off the walls.

"Sorry?" I asked, confused.

"He was scared to swim through the kitchens," he repeated. "He told me so."

I blinked. "…What did you tell him?" I asked.

Bones hesitated, as if struggling with himself. "…I told him to pick between swimming and gruesome, bloody death. I didn't even try to reassure him."

"At least you were honest," I said. I hadn't even been able to do that for the kid.

"Jim…the kid's dead. I keep thinking that he's going to appear around some corner, smiling as usual, and Sulu'll stop crying, and we'll get out of here, but he's not going to. 'Cause he's dead. What the hell are we supposed to tell his family?"

"The same thing we tell every dead crewmember's family, Bones," I answered, sadly, "Chekov died in the line of duty."

"…Helluva comfort that is."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept silent.

Then—CLINK…

I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard the noise.

"Jim?" Bones asked.

Spock, Uhura, Sulu, and Scotty all turned around.

"I thought I heard something," I said, tightening my grip on the handle of my weapon.

"Yes, I believe you did," Spock agreed, a very, very serious expression creeping over his face, as he pointed directly over my shoulder.

I whirled around, and my heart almost stopped.

Aliens. Three of them.

As if Spock had somehow mind-melded us, we all began to run exactly at the same time.

And the aliens followed.

***

_Interlude: Scotty and Sulu_

"_The cargo bay! Scotty, it's here! Over here!" Sulu shouted as he ran through the final hallway into the cargo bay area._

_The engineer sprinted in behind him, gazing down the massive hall from which stemmed the myriad number cargo bays and their corresponding airlocks.._

"_Which way?!" Sulu demanded, wide-eyed._

"_Left," Scotty answered, taking off down the corridor._

_He glanced over his shoulder as he ran, trying to make sure he could see the rest of the crew. Sure enough, Spock and Uhura were only a few yards behind, Kirk and Bones trailing them._

_Somewhere in the distance, the three aliens roared in frightening unison._

_Sulu looked back at his path, checking door signs, reading off the numbers in his head._

Number six_, he thought, _Need to find number six…

_Eight…seven…six. There._

_Somewhat reminiscent of a cartoon, the helmsman skidded into his turn and, almost slipping on the blood on the floor, ran into the cargo bay, fully expecting to find a shuttle in the airlock._

_There was nothing there._

_Scotty, only seconds behind, jogged in after him, breathing hard._

"_Wh—where's the shuttle?!" Sulu gasped. His heartbeat accelerated, the way it did when he knew he was about to lose a fencing match. The way he had felt when he had realized that Pavel was gone._

"_I don't know…it was supposed tae be here! There was one on th' map of th' ship, I swear!" Scotty nearly screeched, making his way over to a console on the wall and bringing up a fuzzy, three-dimensional map of the Enterprise. A cheery you-are-here sign sat directly below the location of the shuttle._

"_Bugger!" the Scotsman swore, "We're on the wrong level—we're directly under it, lad. Dammit!"_

_At that moment, Spock and Uhura emerged, gasping for air._

"_No shuttle?!" Uhura rasped._

"_We're a level down. Shit! Where th' bloody hell are—"_

"_SCOTTY, LOOK OUT!"_

_The engineer suddenly found himself being shoved roughly out of the way as the airlock door came sliding down to a crushing close, walling Sulu off from the rest of the officers._

_A bright red light began to circle the tiny room, accompanied by a blaring alarm and the cool serene voice of the computer: "Warning. Airlock 6 B commencing release. Warning. Airlock 6 B commencing release."_

"_No…" Scotty gasped, standing, "No, no, no, no, no!" He stumbled over to the console, trying to reopen the door. "COMPUTER, OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!"_

"_Unable. Airlock release in fifteen seconds."_

"_DAMMIT!"_

_Behind him, Uhura, Spock, Jim, and Bones stared helplessly at Sulu, whose face and hands were pressed against the glass, his eyes wide, his chest rising and falling with shallow, frightened breaths._

_Scotty tried desperately to reopen the doors manually as the countdown reached ten…nine…eight…_

"_Airlock six access denied," said the computer, coolly._

"_SHIT!"_

"_Seven…six…"_

_The engineer, hopeless, ran back to the glass, placing his hands over the place where the helmsman's hands were on the other side._

"_Five…four…"_

_Sulu's face went white as a deathly silence descended over them all. He spoke five words through the almost soundproof glass, and no one had to read his lips to know what he was saying:_

"_I don't want to die."_

"_Three…two…one."_

_And Hikaru Sulu was jettisoned out the airlock and lost to the harsh, unforgiving vacuum of space._


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"NO!" Scotty screamed, "NO! SULU!"

The engineer sunk to his knees, banging on the airlock door as if it could somehow bring him back.

The image of Sulu being launched backwards into the darkness and out of sight replayed itself over and over in my mind like some sick home video.

_First my navigator, then my helmsman…_

I jumped as Spock stepped forward, placing a hand on my shoulder.

His grave eyes seemed to penetrate me like he was reaching into my mind.

"Jim, we need to leave," he said, solemnly.

That was when I remembered the aliens.

Shaking myself out of my shock, I nodded, then hurried over and grabbed Scotty under the arms, pulling him to his feet.

"Come on," I said.

The engineer nodded slowly.

We began to run again.

***

It was sheer luck, and Bones's twenty-twenty vision that allowed us to escape the monsters in pursuit—the old "slip through a side door and watch 'em run past" trick.

In this case, corny as it may seem, it was quite effective.

We ended up in a tiny hallway between sections of the ship.

Taking the moment to rest, Spock consulted the three-dimensional map to find a way to get us to the next level, and to our means of escape.

"Captain," he announced, "There is a small ladder chute one hundred point two yards in that direction." He pointed to my right.

I nodded. "Let's get the hell out of here," I said, and breathless nods of agreement met my statement. _Preferably without any more casualties_, I thought, darkly.

Spoke too soon.

I had taken one step towards freedom when Bones suddenly loosed a gasp of pain, and stumbled against the wall.

"Dr. McCoy?" Spock asked.

"I can't breathe," he choked, "I—"

He was on his knees, in silent pain, his face slowly turning red, then purple, then blue, far too fast to be the normal rate of suffocation.

"What th' bloody hell is happenin'?!" Scotty demanded, rushing over to perform abdominal thrusts.

"He hasn't eaten anything!" Uhura said, horrified.

Bones then gagged, and, falling forward, vomited a fountain of blood.

"Leonard, what's going on?!" Uhura's voice rose in pitch. "What—"

He coughed up more blood, his body spasming violently as he did. He looked up, his blue puppy-dog eyes meeting mine. I froze.

"Jim…" he gasped, "…kill me."

"_What?!_" I whispered.

"Dr. McCoy, if we can help you, your conclusion is completely illogical—" Spock began.

I couldn't help but notice the fear in his voice—the raw, uncontrolled fear that normally he worked so hard to hide.

"DAMMIT JIM, KILL ME!" Bones screamed.

Scotty and Uhura simultaneously jumped away from him.

My heart was pounding again, faster and faster, as he unleashed another cry of pain.

I drew my phaser, and set it to kill. I started to shake.

_I can't kill him_, I thought, desperately.

_You have to_, a voice in my mind answered.

_I can't do it._

_Look at him—he's in pain. You have to kill him._

_I can't do it. I can't kill my best friend._

_He's a dead man anyways! Just do it!_

_We might be able to save him!_

…_You can't._

_I can't do it._

_You have to._

"JIM, JUST DO IT!" Bones screamed, jolting me back to reality, his voice rising in pitch and volume. "KILL ME! NOW NOW NOW NOW N—AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Blood splattered against his shirt from the inside, staining it dark blueish purple, and his screams reached top volume.

"…I'm sorry," I whispered, and pulled the trigger.

The shot took him in the head, where I had intended it to go, and his screams ceased instantly. A look of relief, almost happiness, crossed his face.

And then he was reduced to a smoldering pile of ashes.

I think it was at that point that my mind stopped working.

I dropped my weapon, staring at the spot where Bones had been kneeling, simply staring, not noticing as the alarm signaling phaser shots began to blare, as the creatures, having picked up our scent once more, roared in the background, as Spock, Uhura, and Scotty shouted at me to run, as I was hauled to my feet, and as my legs started to carry me away of their own accord.

All I could think at that moment was that Bones was dead, and I had killed him.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

We were on the next level, standing just before the shuttle in the airlock. Scotty and Uhura had already started for it, me close behind them.

But Spock…he was just standing there, just inside the entrance, as if waiting for something.

"Spock, come on, we gotta go," I heard myself say.

The Vulcan allowed a slight smile to curve his lips. "Not this time, Jim," he said.

_What the hell do you mean, "not this time"?!_

"What are you talking about?!"

From behind, I heard Uhura's voice. "Spock? What are you doing, we need to go!"

"Aye, it's now or never, lads!" Scotty interjected.

I stepped over to my first officer. My friend. Uhura followed.

"The ship cannot be allowed to land anywhere or be intercepted by anyone while these creatures still reside here," Spock explained, cool as a cucumber, "So I am going to set it to self-destruct. I will remain here to make sure it is not disabled."

"Spock, that's suicide!" I shouted. Looking back on this moment, that sounds horribly corny, but it was also true.

"I believe the nickname Admiral Pike would assign you after that statement is 'Captain Obvious'," he replied, calmly.

"Spock, this isn't a joke!" Uhura exploded, her uncontrolled fury and fright making itself known.

It was a little ironic—Spock joking just before his death. Hell, Spock joking at all was ironic.

"I won't let you do this," I told him.

"You must be the one to tell Starfleet what has occurred here, Jim," he countered.

"The captain goes down with his ship," I retorted.

"Not this time."

Had the circumstances been different, I would've interpreted that as a challenge.

_He could kill you on a whim,_ I heard Bones's voice say in my head.

_But he won't,_ I thought.

"This is the no-win situation," I began, "You wouldn't do that to Nyota, would you? To your parents? To your people?"

Uhura stiffened beside us. I hated to put her on the spot like that, but I wasn't about to let Spock kill himself when I could.

_When I could see my father again. My friends. Bones._

This last thought of mine was so completely irrational that I almost burst out laughing hysterically.

"You're not about to change my mind about this, Jim," Spock said, calmly, turning to Uhura, whose eyes were brimming over with tears. "Nyota," he said.

She simply nodded, and kissed him.

I started for the airlock door when Spock grabbed me by the back of my shirt, yanking me back.

"You have a responsibility to your crew," he growled.

"No!" I shouted, "You're doing this because you have to—I'm doing this because I want to!"

Then, right behind me, there came a huge THUD as the airlock door slammed shut.

Spock let go of my shirt and I whirled around…

…to see Scotty standing on the other side of the glass.

***

_Interlude: Scotty_

_The engineer gave a sad little smile as Jim, Spock, and Uhura stared at him, shocked. He picked up a speaker comm connected to the airlock and spoke into it._

"_You couldn't stop arguin'," he said, "I'm sorry, Captain."_

"_Scotty…" Jim began, sharply, "…Open the airlock. NOW."_

_He shook his head. "No can do, sir. I'm already here. Get off the ship. Th' crew needs a leader."_

"_SCOTTY, OPEN THE DOOR!"_

"_Captain, I'm goin' tae set th' airlock tae open in one minute. The shuttle is there for ye. If ye really want tae die, it's your decision."_

_True to his word, Scotty stepped over to the console and set the airlock to release. The alarm and red lights inside started up, blaring and circling the room like they had done for Sulu._

"_No!" Jim screamed, "Scotty! SCOTTY!"_

_The engineer switched off the comm between the airlock and the main hall, cutting off his captain's desperate shouts._

I'm sorry_, he thought, as Spock and Uhura dragged Jim towards the shuttle, the latter of the three kicking and struggling the entire way._

_Just before disappearing into the shuttle, Uhura caught Scotty's gaze. Tears were streaming down her face. _

Thank you_, she mouthed, _Thank you.

_Scotty nodded to her. "Good luck, lass," he answered._

_Then she was gone._

_The engineer ran to the console once more and started to hack into the ship's system. There was a lot to be said, he reflected wryly, for having friends on the other side of the law. Kate and Benny, for two, the ones who had taught him the art of computer-hacking. He wondered how they'd react to the news of his death._

_There. It was set. He had to allow the shuttles time to escape the blast. _

_Smiling slightly, he wondered how much of his life would flash before his eyes in three minutes._

_The smile disappeared completely as he heard roars in the distance coming down the adjacent hallway, growing louder, coming fast._

_He drew his phaser, set it to kill. _M'comin' back, Susie,_ he thought, _Wherever y'are.

_Phaser fire sounded in the corridor._

_***_

"All shuttles, prepare for warp," Spock ordered into the communicator, as he prepared the coordinates, "Set coordinates to Earth, Starfleet Headquarters. On my mark."

He was piloting the shuttle with Uhura as I stared out the back window at the Enterprise.

I heard Spock count down: "Three. Two. One. Mark."

Just before we jumped to warp, I caught a glimpse of a small explosion beginning on the bridge of the ship.

And then the Enterprise was gone, her beloved Chief of Engineering, and so many others, gone with her.

I sagged against the wall and sat on the floor of the shuttle.

_What have I done?_


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Three weeks later: Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth

I was standing before what remained of my crew, up on a podium, Spock and Uhura behind me. We all wore our dress uniforms. Mine was, appropriately, black.

I was speaking words of comfort to the people standing before me, something I hadn't written myself, something I had rehearsed to provide them with some level of consolation that I could never have.

"Today we remember those whose lives were lost in the tragedy aboard the Enterprise three weeks ago. And we also remember this: Remember that in every ending, there is a beginning."

And with that, I began to list the names of the dead.

Several stood out to me.

Christine Chapel, Nurse.

Pavel Andreiovich Chekov, Navigator, Lieutenant.

Leonard McCoy, Chief Medical Officer.

Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer.

Hikaru Sulu, Helmsman, Lieutenant.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Bones's name at which I started to lose it. It was Scotty's.

I think the reason was the nicknames. I was pretty much the only one who called Bones by his nickname, but almost everyone had called Scotty "Scotty". Referring to him as "Montgomery Scotty, Chief Engineer" seemed wrong, somehow.

My voice cracked on his first name. I had to stop for a few seconds, then repeat it and continue.

It was one of the most hellish affairs of my life.

There is no hope of redemption. Not for me.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

I'm dreaming again, but this time it's not a nightmare.

Lazy clouds drift across the pale Iowa sky. The summer heat wave has rolled in, and I'm doing what I always do, lying on my back on the roof, watching the clouds roll by.

"What about that one?"

I glance over to my left where Bones is lying next to me, a smile on his face. He points skyward.

I look up at the cloud in question. "It's a chupacabra."

"Like hell. You don't even know what a chupacabra looks like."

"Like you do," I retort.

He laughs.

"Fine, it's an i-i."

"A what?"

"One of those little monkeys with E.T. fingers and huge eyes."

He snorts with derision.

"Doesn't it look like it?"

"No."

"Then what do _you_ think it looks like?!"

"I dunno."

There's a short silence in which I realize something rather important.

"Hey, Bones," I begin, speculatively, "This doesn't make sense."

"Why's that?"

"You're happy."

"What're you talkin' about?"

"You're always grumpy. Or depressed. Or drunk. But never really happy."

He looks at me, wearing a serious expression. "Jim Kirk, I was almost always somewhat happy. I just had trouble showing it."

I can't tell if he's lying or not. I decide to leave it.

"Sorry," I said.

"About what?"

"About shooting you."

"I asked you to."

"Well then I'm sorry about hesitating."

"Don't be."

"I have to be sorry about something!"

"Jim, there's nothing for you to be sorry about."

"Yeah, there is."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I'm sorry for messing around with you when you were drunk."

"Aww, Jim…"

"What? I mean, that's what you were mad about, right?"

He's silent for a moment, then answers. "I was irrationally pissed off."

" 'Irrationally pissed off'?" I repeat.

"At myself. And I took it out on you."

"You were irrationally pissed off at yourself?"

"I hope you're not really a parrot because that's a real turnoff, Jim."

"Why?"

He shrugs. "I was falling in love with you. And I didn't want to be at the time."

" 'Cause you were afraid of falling in love with a guy?"

" 'Cause I was afraid of falling in love with a friend. One of my few friends in the world. I didn't want to screw things up and lose you."

"So you really are a people-person."

"Aww, shaddup, Jim."

I grin. "Y'know, I was falling in love with you too. I wasn't just looking for an excuse to get some."

"Hey, you were drunk too."

"I know. That Romulan ale is potent stuff." I pause for a moment. Then—"So…that stunt you pulled in the hall closet…"

"Oh, _please_."

"That wasn't total desperation?"

"No. It wasn't." He smiles. "I liked it," he admits, sheepishly.

"Well, there's one thing we have in common."

He rolls his eyes—his puppy-dog blue eyes—and looks up at the sky once more.

"You know," he says, "I actually think that cloud looks kinda like the Enterprise."

I glance up. "Yeah," I agree. "It does." I squint at what I think to be the hull, trying to imagine the words _Enterprise NCC-1701 _scrawled across the arc.

I then turn back to Bones, a wily grin on my face.

He looks back at me. "What?"

"That kiss," I say, "was admittedly something special, but it could've been refined a bit."

"Are you dissing my skills?"

"Would you like to perfect them?"

He considers it. "Couldn't hurt, I suppose."

I spoon up against him, wrapping one arm around his waist, allowing my fingers of my other hand to curl through his soft hair.

Our lips meet.

***

I wake up to find myself making out with my pillow, and the crushing truth comes down on me once more, jolting me back to reality.

Only in my dreams will I ever see him again.

For awhile, I cry in the darkness, for Chapel, for Chekov, for Sulu, for Scotty…for Bones…

I have been informed time and time again by Uhura that it's all right to cry, to release one's emotions. All I find that it does is make me incredibly tired.

One small thought comforts me as I drift off to sleep again, and that is the fact that he really had been falling in love with me, that I wasn't alone I how I felt. I don't care if my own mind made it up just to soothe my shattered soul—I take it and latch onto it like it's a life ring in a storm.

Psychologists would probably tell me that's a mechanism my brain uses in order for me to survive.

I grin psychotically at this thought as my eyes flutter shut.

Perhaps there's hope for me yet.

***

FIN

Author's Note:

It was an excuse for angst, swearing, blood and guts, and fluffy slash. 'Nuff said.

LOVE YA,TREK CAST!!!


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